<![CDATA[LowBiasForums - Jason]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/ Thu, 14 May 2026 05:00:34 +0000 MyBB <![CDATA[That One Time Jason Did Voices For A GTA Parody]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=1861 Tue, 20 Nov 2018 14:59:49 -0600 Jason]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=1861 ]]> ]]> <![CDATA[Strawberry Spring]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=1836 Mon, 08 Oct 2018 01:56:44 -0500 Jason]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=1836

Click Here To Download]]>

Click Here To Download]]> <![CDATA[The "This Should Be The Soundtrack To The Dark Tower" Playlist]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=1563 Mon, 17 Jul 2017 10:00:15 -0500 Jason]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=1563
We're both pretty interested in the movie, but it looks - from the trailers - like it's going to be based on what Person B took from Person A telling them what they remember from the back of the book.

Anyway... I'm putting together what I think should be the soundtrack to the film... though I know it won't be.

Here it is...

]]>
We're both pretty interested in the movie, but it looks - from the trailers - like it's going to be based on what Person B took from Person A telling them what they remember from the back of the book.

Anyway... I'm putting together what I think should be the soundtrack to the film... though I know it won't be.

Here it is...

]]> <![CDATA[Black Box Checklist]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=1541 Sun, 25 Jun 2017 09:48:40 -0500 Jason]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=1541
Why? Cause most of them are pretty good and they're kind of obscure.

But the other goal right now is the Black Box games. To quote from Time Warp Gamer
Quote:I used to look at Nintendo's early box art with great disdain. After all, the game shots look worse than the in-game graphics. Then I read an excellent 1up feature written by Frank Cifaldi on the launch of the NES. Two points in particular stuck with me, forcing me to look at these black boxes in a new light.
Following the video game crash of 1983, American retailers were very skeptical of stocking any new video games. Therefore, Nintendo took great pains to avoid putting any references to "video games" on these boxes. Pretty hilarious to think that one of Nintendo's core marketing strategies was to not call their product by its real name.

What really surprised me, though, was the philosophy behind this chunky and pixelated box art. Nintendo wanted to be very up front about what sort of graphics consumers were getting. By showing such honest pictures on the box, it made it hard for people to be unpleasantly surprised or disappointed when they fired up the actual game. This approach was in stark contrast to what Atari's had been, where games often had excellent hand drawn box art, yet the games graphics hardly looked anything like what they were supposed to represent.

The black boxes may have taken a strange path to achieve their iconic look, but you can't deny that they really catch your eye, and you can imagine how they'd grab your attention on cluttered store shelves.

According to my calculations, Nintendo released 30 black box games, and you'll find all of the U.S. versions below. Enjoy!

Now it should be noted that other games had a similar box art style like Metroid and Kid Icarus, but the boxes were grey and not black... that matters. See examples below.


.png   not black box.png (Size: 252.6 KB / Downloads: 28)

There are just some really good games in this series and I'd like to have em... so here's my check list.


PS If you look close you'll see someone took some time to alter these pictures a little bit. Things that never happen in the game are featured and sometimes the sprites have smiles.

Anyway... onto the list]]>
Why? Cause most of them are pretty good and they're kind of obscure.

But the other goal right now is the Black Box games. To quote from Time Warp Gamer
Quote:I used to look at Nintendo's early box art with great disdain. After all, the game shots look worse than the in-game graphics. Then I read an excellent 1up feature written by Frank Cifaldi on the launch of the NES. Two points in particular stuck with me, forcing me to look at these black boxes in a new light.
Following the video game crash of 1983, American retailers were very skeptical of stocking any new video games. Therefore, Nintendo took great pains to avoid putting any references to "video games" on these boxes. Pretty hilarious to think that one of Nintendo's core marketing strategies was to not call their product by its real name.

What really surprised me, though, was the philosophy behind this chunky and pixelated box art. Nintendo wanted to be very up front about what sort of graphics consumers were getting. By showing such honest pictures on the box, it made it hard for people to be unpleasantly surprised or disappointed when they fired up the actual game. This approach was in stark contrast to what Atari's had been, where games often had excellent hand drawn box art, yet the games graphics hardly looked anything like what they were supposed to represent.

The black boxes may have taken a strange path to achieve their iconic look, but you can't deny that they really catch your eye, and you can imagine how they'd grab your attention on cluttered store shelves.

According to my calculations, Nintendo released 30 black box games, and you'll find all of the U.S. versions below. Enjoy!

Now it should be noted that other games had a similar box art style like Metroid and Kid Icarus, but the boxes were grey and not black... that matters. See examples below.


.png   not black box.png (Size: 252.6 KB / Downloads: 28)

There are just some really good games in this series and I'd like to have em... so here's my check list.


PS If you look close you'll see someone took some time to alter these pictures a little bit. Things that never happen in the game are featured and sometimes the sprites have smiles.

Anyway... onto the list]]> <![CDATA[AM2R: Return Of Samus]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=1192 Mon, 15 Aug 2016 08:15:54 -0500 Jason]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=1192
That said. I wanna talk about AM2R a little bit and, if you haven't played it, there's gonna be some spoilers here, so keep that in mind.

I love Metroid II. One of my favorite games in the series, and I'd take it over any of the GBA games any day of the week. It doesn't cram too much into it, it doesn't try and be something it's not, it doesn't give you text dumps and bland speculation it tries to pass off as plot, and it doesn't hold your hand and tell you where to go and what to do everytime you get in an elevator.

My problems with Metroid II don't stem from the actual game itself, but from the hardware. The Game Boy, if we're being honest, was a pretty great system that had it's flaws. Graphics being the major one. Ghosting was terrible on that screen and it made action games a little tricky to play sometimes. The Super Game Boy cleaned that up a bit, but still. Not as good as it could have been, but then the price would have put it out of reach of people and blah blah... you get the idea.

Any-dang-way... Metroid II, unfortunately, get's kind of lumped in with Super Mario Bros 2 and Zelda II as being the black sheep of the series because they changed up the formula a bit. We don't need to get into those other two games at all, but we do wanna mention that Metroid II's biggest deviation from the standard Metroid play style is that it's very linear compared to the other games. Your goal is even tracked on screen with a little counter. Go until you can't go no mo, kill all the Metroids, go back and see what changed. (Fusion fans will ignore that Fusion does something similar, but it's ok if Fusion does it cause it's Fusion.)

The more standard type of game play drops you off and says "Good luck." and leaves you to finding your own way around, seeing what works and what doesn't, and trying to get things done as efficiently as possible once you've got a hang on how things work. It's not bad really. It's pretty dang fun.

So is Metroid II, even though it's a little different.

AM2R, I had some pretty high hopes for. Other than emulation on the ol computer box, I didn't think there'd really be a great way to get the game to work without all those ghosting problems I mentioned earlier. I though this game did deserve a little bit of an update strictly for the sake of cleaning up the graphics a bit. I even mentioned to MetroidQuest that a Metroid II with the Super Metroid engine would be pretty darn good. That's almost exactly what we've got here in AM2R.

Unfortunately, AM2R went the Fusion/Zero Mission route instead of the Super route. Would that be a big deal in terms of graphics? Not really. The graphics are great. Samus looks good, the backgrounds and areas look pretty darn good, the enemies look good...

But then liberties are taken. The Metroids, as an example, look pretty good... but... liberties have been taken with a few of the sprites. I understand the reason behind it, and I don't even care that they did it. It would make sense that between the Alpha and Gamma Metroid you should see a little changes, which you do. The last few Alphas you run into start to show signs of change into becoming Gammas. That's kinda neat.

But it just stops there. Gammas never show any signs of changing to Zetas other than a new attack or two, and Zetas don't show anything when they're going Omega.

It's inconsistent.

Music. The music, I have zero issue with. The arrangements are excellent. They keep the feel and, if anything, expand on it. Which is fairly obvious when you've got more then about 4 tracks to work with. Music get's an A.

Plot. Well... it's fine. It's the same basic plot as M2, but it adds stuff. Stuff that didn't need to be there. Stuff that's really reminiscent of Zero Mission and even Prime 2 a little bit. An entire new section of the planets surface opens up with a wrecked ship to explore for a single power up, with a couple more hidden in the area. A research time you have to find and give backup to, new areas within the planet that, really, feel like excuses to include power-ups from the other games. The Gravity Suit in is AM2R. Why? Because there's a water area now. Beams stack. Why? Because since Super Metroid that's been a thing. Super Missles and Power Bombs? Sure, we can do that. Oh but we better come up with a reason for it. Speed Booster? Absolutely. Cause we need more puzzles that require shine sparking.

And that leads me to my biggest complaint with the game.

I'd 99% done. I've found 99% of the items. And honestly I think the game is pretty damn fun. It's a solid B in my book that could have had the A had it not tried to be things it shouldn't. M2 didn't need Super Missles, Power Bombs, Speed Boosters, that annoying grip thing to hang from ledges, and it didn't need puzzles that require you to get a ball into a hole to power up a door.

Coincidentally, almost every Power Bomb expansion you pick up in the game requires you to have power bombs to get to. Like... here's a door that you have to open with power bombs, or here's a wall you have to use power bombs to blow up... and behind it is a single power bomb expansion.

Back to the plot for a bit, since we're still kinda in that mode, what the game does do that I like is that it offers you plot in the way Prime did. After being in an area or meeting a new boss (yeah, not just Metroids but other bosses), for a couple seconds you'll get scan data that you can access via the menu to read to see what's up. To learn about new areas, monsters attacks, weaknesses, all that kinda stuff. It works, and I think it works well.

Speaking of Bosses and monsters. The Metroids, with the exception of the Alpha and larva, have new attacks. The Queen fight is quite a bit different and takes forever, and the Omega Metroid are just about the most annoying, but easy, things to kill ever. It's a weird dichotomy that you can now blast away pretty much anything with a couple of Super Missles, but because your'e not supposed to be able to do that, the enemies can swipe em away and negate the shot. Kinda like the Golden Torizo in Super. He can grab a super missile and throw it back at you, or just side step them completely.

Anyway, the thing is, that it's really not bad... but don't go into it expecting a simple graphic, music, and control update. You're getting a lot more than that. Is it bad? I don't know. A little. Is it good? I don't know? Kinda?

I can't help but feel when a fan game starts adding all this new stuff, areas, attacks, weapons, enemies, bosses... all that... that the game designer/creator really just wanted to make their own game, but it was easier to just alter something someone else already did to make it fit what they want it to be.

Why come up with a new story for your video game when there's already a perfectly "good" one floating around between 3-4 games in a series. You just have to being them together like Voltron or something and it'll be awesome right?

Except there's a Voltron reboot... and it's terrible.

Anyway. I've got a couple videos up HERE and if you'd like to... download yourself a copy of the game HERE and tell me what you think.]]>
That said. I wanna talk about AM2R a little bit and, if you haven't played it, there's gonna be some spoilers here, so keep that in mind.

I love Metroid II. One of my favorite games in the series, and I'd take it over any of the GBA games any day of the week. It doesn't cram too much into it, it doesn't try and be something it's not, it doesn't give you text dumps and bland speculation it tries to pass off as plot, and it doesn't hold your hand and tell you where to go and what to do everytime you get in an elevator.

My problems with Metroid II don't stem from the actual game itself, but from the hardware. The Game Boy, if we're being honest, was a pretty great system that had it's flaws. Graphics being the major one. Ghosting was terrible on that screen and it made action games a little tricky to play sometimes. The Super Game Boy cleaned that up a bit, but still. Not as good as it could have been, but then the price would have put it out of reach of people and blah blah... you get the idea.

Any-dang-way... Metroid II, unfortunately, get's kind of lumped in with Super Mario Bros 2 and Zelda II as being the black sheep of the series because they changed up the formula a bit. We don't need to get into those other two games at all, but we do wanna mention that Metroid II's biggest deviation from the standard Metroid play style is that it's very linear compared to the other games. Your goal is even tracked on screen with a little counter. Go until you can't go no mo, kill all the Metroids, go back and see what changed. (Fusion fans will ignore that Fusion does something similar, but it's ok if Fusion does it cause it's Fusion.)

The more standard type of game play drops you off and says "Good luck." and leaves you to finding your own way around, seeing what works and what doesn't, and trying to get things done as efficiently as possible once you've got a hang on how things work. It's not bad really. It's pretty dang fun.

So is Metroid II, even though it's a little different.

AM2R, I had some pretty high hopes for. Other than emulation on the ol computer box, I didn't think there'd really be a great way to get the game to work without all those ghosting problems I mentioned earlier. I though this game did deserve a little bit of an update strictly for the sake of cleaning up the graphics a bit. I even mentioned to MetroidQuest that a Metroid II with the Super Metroid engine would be pretty darn good. That's almost exactly what we've got here in AM2R.

Unfortunately, AM2R went the Fusion/Zero Mission route instead of the Super route. Would that be a big deal in terms of graphics? Not really. The graphics are great. Samus looks good, the backgrounds and areas look pretty darn good, the enemies look good...

But then liberties are taken. The Metroids, as an example, look pretty good... but... liberties have been taken with a few of the sprites. I understand the reason behind it, and I don't even care that they did it. It would make sense that between the Alpha and Gamma Metroid you should see a little changes, which you do. The last few Alphas you run into start to show signs of change into becoming Gammas. That's kinda neat.

But it just stops there. Gammas never show any signs of changing to Zetas other than a new attack or two, and Zetas don't show anything when they're going Omega.

It's inconsistent.

Music. The music, I have zero issue with. The arrangements are excellent. They keep the feel and, if anything, expand on it. Which is fairly obvious when you've got more then about 4 tracks to work with. Music get's an A.

Plot. Well... it's fine. It's the same basic plot as M2, but it adds stuff. Stuff that didn't need to be there. Stuff that's really reminiscent of Zero Mission and even Prime 2 a little bit. An entire new section of the planets surface opens up with a wrecked ship to explore for a single power up, with a couple more hidden in the area. A research time you have to find and give backup to, new areas within the planet that, really, feel like excuses to include power-ups from the other games. The Gravity Suit in is AM2R. Why? Because there's a water area now. Beams stack. Why? Because since Super Metroid that's been a thing. Super Missles and Power Bombs? Sure, we can do that. Oh but we better come up with a reason for it. Speed Booster? Absolutely. Cause we need more puzzles that require shine sparking.

And that leads me to my biggest complaint with the game.

I'd 99% done. I've found 99% of the items. And honestly I think the game is pretty damn fun. It's a solid B in my book that could have had the A had it not tried to be things it shouldn't. M2 didn't need Super Missles, Power Bombs, Speed Boosters, that annoying grip thing to hang from ledges, and it didn't need puzzles that require you to get a ball into a hole to power up a door.

Coincidentally, almost every Power Bomb expansion you pick up in the game requires you to have power bombs to get to. Like... here's a door that you have to open with power bombs, or here's a wall you have to use power bombs to blow up... and behind it is a single power bomb expansion.

Back to the plot for a bit, since we're still kinda in that mode, what the game does do that I like is that it offers you plot in the way Prime did. After being in an area or meeting a new boss (yeah, not just Metroids but other bosses), for a couple seconds you'll get scan data that you can access via the menu to read to see what's up. To learn about new areas, monsters attacks, weaknesses, all that kinda stuff. It works, and I think it works well.

Speaking of Bosses and monsters. The Metroids, with the exception of the Alpha and larva, have new attacks. The Queen fight is quite a bit different and takes forever, and the Omega Metroid are just about the most annoying, but easy, things to kill ever. It's a weird dichotomy that you can now blast away pretty much anything with a couple of Super Missles, but because your'e not supposed to be able to do that, the enemies can swipe em away and negate the shot. Kinda like the Golden Torizo in Super. He can grab a super missile and throw it back at you, or just side step them completely.

Anyway, the thing is, that it's really not bad... but don't go into it expecting a simple graphic, music, and control update. You're getting a lot more than that. Is it bad? I don't know. A little. Is it good? I don't know? Kinda?

I can't help but feel when a fan game starts adding all this new stuff, areas, attacks, weapons, enemies, bosses... all that... that the game designer/creator really just wanted to make their own game, but it was easier to just alter something someone else already did to make it fit what they want it to be.

Why come up with a new story for your video game when there's already a perfectly "good" one floating around between 3-4 games in a series. You just have to being them together like Voltron or something and it'll be awesome right?

Except there's a Voltron reboot... and it's terrible.

Anyway. I've got a couple videos up HERE and if you'd like to... download yourself a copy of the game HERE and tell me what you think.]]> <![CDATA[Jason Wanted A Thing!]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=1007 Mon, 04 Jul 2016 13:27:54 -0500 Scarlet]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=1007 ]]> ]]> <![CDATA[Jason Shows Scarlet How It's Done]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=958 Fri, 06 May 2016 00:33:09 -0500 Jason]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=958 ]]> ]]> <![CDATA[Jason Shows Ragnatz How It's Done]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=956 Wed, 04 May 2016 09:07:01 -0500 Jason]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=956
]]>
]]> <![CDATA[Happy Birthday Zelda Link Gannon People! Not You Tingle...]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=888 Sun, 06 Mar 2016 13:38:45 -0600 Jason]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=888 ]]> ]]> <![CDATA[I'm in the 2.8%]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=868 Fri, 19 Feb 2016 23:10:09 -0600 Jason]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=868

.png   Untitled 3.png (Size: 21.8 KB / Downloads: 16)

Final Fantasy VI: The Eternal Crystals and Castlevania II: Simon's Quest Revamped.... just so ya know.]]>

.png   Untitled 3.png (Size: 21.8 KB / Downloads: 16)

Final Fantasy VI: The Eternal Crystals and Castlevania II: Simon's Quest Revamped.... just so ya know.]]> <![CDATA[Ground Control To Major Tom]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=838 Mon, 11 Jan 2016 08:51:24 -0600 Jason]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=838
One of the more amazing characters, for me anyway, was Jareth The Goblin King. He just looked amazing. He had an awesome voice, he did that awesome trick with the glass balls. He was this strange mix between human and Muppet. He was a little scary, but super intriguing at the same time.

Of course that was David Bowie. Today, in the early morning, he passed away at the age of 69 after fighting cancer.

I don't usually come out and do a big post thing when every performer passes away. Natalie Cole passed away last week and, while I'm pretty bummed about that her impact on me as a musician was much less than Bowie's.

After Labyrinth and my obvious reaction to the film, my parents thought it a good time to introduce me to Bowie via vinyl. Bowie was never a huge favorite of theirs but there was enough in the house that I could get a pretty good idea of what it was all about.

To this day I'm not totally sure what it was about him and his music that I really liked. Maybe it was being different without being belligerent about it? Maybe it was the stunning variety of styles and songs that he was able to produce. Maybe it was the dramatic change in himself though his various characters like Ziggy Stardust that just kinda hit with someone going through puberty later in life (as I was when Ziggy became my go to)? I honestly have no answers to those questions.

What I do know is that, even though his last few albums didn't do much for me musically, he has a huge part of what I consider to be good music and knowing that the man that created all of that isn't going to get to create anymore is pretty depressing.

That said, you can expect some Bowie in the next podcast for sure... in one way or another... and I'll leave you with a little mix below of him, covers, and various other neat things.

Obviously I can't put everything I want here, I'd have the whole of the internet. Share your favorites and thoughts.











]]>
One of the more amazing characters, for me anyway, was Jareth The Goblin King. He just looked amazing. He had an awesome voice, he did that awesome trick with the glass balls. He was this strange mix between human and Muppet. He was a little scary, but super intriguing at the same time.

Of course that was David Bowie. Today, in the early morning, he passed away at the age of 69 after fighting cancer.

I don't usually come out and do a big post thing when every performer passes away. Natalie Cole passed away last week and, while I'm pretty bummed about that her impact on me as a musician was much less than Bowie's.

After Labyrinth and my obvious reaction to the film, my parents thought it a good time to introduce me to Bowie via vinyl. Bowie was never a huge favorite of theirs but there was enough in the house that I could get a pretty good idea of what it was all about.

To this day I'm not totally sure what it was about him and his music that I really liked. Maybe it was being different without being belligerent about it? Maybe it was the stunning variety of styles and songs that he was able to produce. Maybe it was the dramatic change in himself though his various characters like Ziggy Stardust that just kinda hit with someone going through puberty later in life (as I was when Ziggy became my go to)? I honestly have no answers to those questions.

What I do know is that, even though his last few albums didn't do much for me musically, he has a huge part of what I consider to be good music and knowing that the man that created all of that isn't going to get to create anymore is pretty depressing.

That said, you can expect some Bowie in the next podcast for sure... in one way or another... and I'll leave you with a little mix below of him, covers, and various other neat things.

Obviously I can't put everything I want here, I'd have the whole of the internet. Share your favorites and thoughts.











]]> <![CDATA[Happy Birthday!]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=826 Mon, 21 Dec 2015 22:13:26 -0600 Scarlet]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=826 ]]> ]]> <![CDATA[June 26, 2015]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=743 Sun, 28 Jun 2015 13:42:50 -0500 Jason]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=743
We'll put aside all the other news like the Confederate Flag and the trade deal and talk about the big news that the Supreme Court has said that same sex marriage is legal in all 50 states now.

That's a big deal. A really big deal.

We're going to hear a lot about how "We shouldn't pass laws from the bench." and "This is just a bunch of judicial activism that the people of the nation don't want." or even the classic go to "This should be up to the states."

Well I'm gonna tackle each one of those one at a time here... so let's start...

"We shouldn't pass laws from the bench." - Wrong. That's exactly what the court is there to do. To hear opposing sides on an issue and decide which is the correct side. This is based on constitutional law. That law, I feel, can't be rigid. It needs to bend and flow and be able to change with the times. When the constitution was written we didn't have so many of the technologies we have today or even the social issues that we have today. It's the courts job to, hopefully, rule in favor of the constitution with regard to the ever adjusting world in which we live in. Also, it's very hypocritical to say that when the courts rule against you but to spout nothing but support for the court when they rule on something you're in favor of.

I have my disagreements with the Supreme Court on some issues... like Citizens United. I think it's a terrible piece of legislature... but the court did pass it. It will take a constitutional amendment to revoke it and I think that's something that should be pursued. If folks are against same sex marriage they are more than welcome to do the same.

That goes to the second point about "judicial activism". This we hear a lot when a ruling doesn't go the way folks want it to... and it's usually from the conservative side of the argument that we hear that the most. That is to say I haven't said the same thing in some instances... mostly when basic human right are being ignored by a court somewhere (we've talked about a couple of those issues in the podcast). An article I read about this story said the "more liberal" judges all voted in favor of it. That's true. One of those judges was appointed by Nixon, that would be Justice Kennedy. He has, consistently, voted in favor of the rights of the individual and considers himself a conservative man politically. He has said, however, that the only reason he gets grouped up with the other judges is that the right wing has moved so far to the right he can find no place there anymore.

Finally, the argument that it should be up to the states. I hear this a lot from members of congress in states that had not yet passed a law allowing same sax marriage protections. Here's the thing... at the time this ruling was passed roughly 12 states didn't allow for same sex couples to get married. That's a time amount... and the odds that within the next 5-10 years all those states would have allowed the marriages anyway was very good. Part of what this ruling says, and why it's made the marriages legal in all states is that State A (which doesn't allow) cannot refuse to identify and accept a marriage held in State B (which does allow). You're married... you're married everywhere.

And let's talk about a few other things that we're hearing about this issue for a moment.

Preface - Let's talk definitions here. A Marriage is something you get from the state. That goes on public record. No church, no priest, no pastor or bishop need be involved. You go to your local court house or whatever, give em a few bucks, sign the papers... you get talked to by a judge or whatever... bam... married.

A wedding is the private ceremony. And when I say private I don't mean private ok? I mean you pick the place, the color of the table cloths, the seating, the food, who gets invited, who officiates it... this is the optional event that you can use to celebrate your marriage.

#1 - That churches will be forced to provide same sex couples with marriages. Wrong. Churches don't do marriages, they do weddings. A church can, honestly, deny you a wedding for the color of your socks if they so decide to do so. Some churches will be allowing same sex couples to have a wedding there and that's great. Totally their decision. Nothing in the law says you MUST give same sex couples a wedding at your church if you don't want to.

#2 - Straight people are less married now because same sex couples are married. This one is so stupid it hurts my head. How does that even work? That's like saying you're less full because someone else ate dinner.

#3 - We all have to get married to someone of our own gender. The level of stupid here is equal to or great than the previous statement.

#4 - This opens the door to allow incestuous marriages, bestiality, pedophilia and so on. Again... nothing. There's nothing in the law that says that any of that will be ok. Someone people have used the argument that "Well now that people who are in love can get married, what's to stop a 45 year old father from getting married to his 8 year old daughter?" I'll tell you what's there to stop that... laws. The law doesn't change any of that nor is it a "gateway law" that's going to start any of that from happening.

I also really like the presumption that before this law was passed that no one that was previously married were in love, they just did it cause they had to/were bored/needed the tax break/whatever.



So there ya have it. My quick summation of the law and it's arguments against and just outright lies that have been spread because of it.

Let it be said on record here that I am a progressive minded person... that kinda means Libertarian but with a sense of responsibility toward my fellow man no matter how much I may loathe him. I have been a supporter of gay rights for pretty much as long as I can remember. I am very excited for my gay friends who live in Idaho and everywhere in the nation.

I'm excited to hear the definitions changing. I'm excited that gay people are being treated like people in this country.

I'm excited to never have to type "gay marriage" or "same sex marriage" again... I can just type marriage.]]>
We'll put aside all the other news like the Confederate Flag and the trade deal and talk about the big news that the Supreme Court has said that same sex marriage is legal in all 50 states now.

That's a big deal. A really big deal.

We're going to hear a lot about how "We shouldn't pass laws from the bench." and "This is just a bunch of judicial activism that the people of the nation don't want." or even the classic go to "This should be up to the states."

Well I'm gonna tackle each one of those one at a time here... so let's start...

"We shouldn't pass laws from the bench." - Wrong. That's exactly what the court is there to do. To hear opposing sides on an issue and decide which is the correct side. This is based on constitutional law. That law, I feel, can't be rigid. It needs to bend and flow and be able to change with the times. When the constitution was written we didn't have so many of the technologies we have today or even the social issues that we have today. It's the courts job to, hopefully, rule in favor of the constitution with regard to the ever adjusting world in which we live in. Also, it's very hypocritical to say that when the courts rule against you but to spout nothing but support for the court when they rule on something you're in favor of.

I have my disagreements with the Supreme Court on some issues... like Citizens United. I think it's a terrible piece of legislature... but the court did pass it. It will take a constitutional amendment to revoke it and I think that's something that should be pursued. If folks are against same sex marriage they are more than welcome to do the same.

That goes to the second point about "judicial activism". This we hear a lot when a ruling doesn't go the way folks want it to... and it's usually from the conservative side of the argument that we hear that the most. That is to say I haven't said the same thing in some instances... mostly when basic human right are being ignored by a court somewhere (we've talked about a couple of those issues in the podcast). An article I read about this story said the "more liberal" judges all voted in favor of it. That's true. One of those judges was appointed by Nixon, that would be Justice Kennedy. He has, consistently, voted in favor of the rights of the individual and considers himself a conservative man politically. He has said, however, that the only reason he gets grouped up with the other judges is that the right wing has moved so far to the right he can find no place there anymore.

Finally, the argument that it should be up to the states. I hear this a lot from members of congress in states that had not yet passed a law allowing same sax marriage protections. Here's the thing... at the time this ruling was passed roughly 12 states didn't allow for same sex couples to get married. That's a time amount... and the odds that within the next 5-10 years all those states would have allowed the marriages anyway was very good. Part of what this ruling says, and why it's made the marriages legal in all states is that State A (which doesn't allow) cannot refuse to identify and accept a marriage held in State B (which does allow). You're married... you're married everywhere.

And let's talk about a few other things that we're hearing about this issue for a moment.

Preface - Let's talk definitions here. A Marriage is something you get from the state. That goes on public record. No church, no priest, no pastor or bishop need be involved. You go to your local court house or whatever, give em a few bucks, sign the papers... you get talked to by a judge or whatever... bam... married.

A wedding is the private ceremony. And when I say private I don't mean private ok? I mean you pick the place, the color of the table cloths, the seating, the food, who gets invited, who officiates it... this is the optional event that you can use to celebrate your marriage.

#1 - That churches will be forced to provide same sex couples with marriages. Wrong. Churches don't do marriages, they do weddings. A church can, honestly, deny you a wedding for the color of your socks if they so decide to do so. Some churches will be allowing same sex couples to have a wedding there and that's great. Totally their decision. Nothing in the law says you MUST give same sex couples a wedding at your church if you don't want to.

#2 - Straight people are less married now because same sex couples are married. This one is so stupid it hurts my head. How does that even work? That's like saying you're less full because someone else ate dinner.

#3 - We all have to get married to someone of our own gender. The level of stupid here is equal to or great than the previous statement.

#4 - This opens the door to allow incestuous marriages, bestiality, pedophilia and so on. Again... nothing. There's nothing in the law that says that any of that will be ok. Someone people have used the argument that "Well now that people who are in love can get married, what's to stop a 45 year old father from getting married to his 8 year old daughter?" I'll tell you what's there to stop that... laws. The law doesn't change any of that nor is it a "gateway law" that's going to start any of that from happening.

I also really like the presumption that before this law was passed that no one that was previously married were in love, they just did it cause they had to/were bored/needed the tax break/whatever.



So there ya have it. My quick summation of the law and it's arguments against and just outright lies that have been spread because of it.

Let it be said on record here that I am a progressive minded person... that kinda means Libertarian but with a sense of responsibility toward my fellow man no matter how much I may loathe him. I have been a supporter of gay rights for pretty much as long as I can remember. I am very excited for my gay friends who live in Idaho and everywhere in the nation.

I'm excited to hear the definitions changing. I'm excited that gay people are being treated like people in this country.

I'm excited to never have to type "gay marriage" or "same sex marriage" again... I can just type marriage.]]> <![CDATA[Why Baten Kaitos Is Taking So Long]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=689 Fri, 17 Apr 2015 12:05:35 -0500 Jason]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=689 ]]> ]]> <![CDATA[Let's Play Garbage Day]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=597 Wed, 27 Aug 2014 14:24:10 -0500 Jason]]> //www.lowbiasgaming.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=597 ]]> ]]>